Since the oil embargo of 1974, there has always been news coverage of OPEC meetings.  Usually it is about raising prices or cutting production.  These stories are usually accompanied by pictures of smiling or laughing men.  Until recently these articles usually caused a negative reaction in me, as they represented the fact that a small group of countries, blessed with large petroleum reserves, were manipulating prices and controlling the energy policy — and foreign policy — of countries around the world, particularly the United States.

There were some recent articles about the last OPEC meeting with headlines stating that OPEC producers …

The dramatic increase in gasoline prices over the summer combined with the perception that oil revenues fund terrorism has created a new perception on the need for the U.S. to import oil. It is now becoming clear to a growing number of Americans that dependency on foreign oil compromises our security.

In a recent poll conducted by the Democracy Corps, a Democratic group, likely voters, were asked what they thought were the two most important national security priorities for the government over the next few years.  Coming in first, with 42% was reducing dependence on foreign oil. A distant second was combating …

In the last half of the twentieth century many of the major social, political and cultural trends in the United States started in California.  The worship of the car and the surrounding car culture, the glorification of suburbia via sitcoms, surfing, music, the drug and counter-culture,  free speech and student protest, progressive public higher education, the Silicon Valley explosion of technological innovation, and of course, right turn on red.  Later the negative issues of traffic gridlock, illegal immigration, brown outs and state budget deficits started first in California.  Now, on one of the most fundamentally important issues of the day …

As a futurist I spend a lot of time looking for patterns — pattern recognition — and forces that may develop into trends.  This is just the way I look at the world, trying to connect the dots into patterns and directions that suggest the future.  However, in some cases it doesn’t take a futurist to spot linkage between certain developments.  Let me take you back a few days to a walk on the beach.

I was in Sarasota, Florida to take care of some stuff regarding  my condo and to do a lot of writing and reading.  As I always …